- Joined
- Dec 28, 2003
- Messages
- 4,793
I snagged this Sher Movie Model the other day, and it is a unique piece of work. First of all, I was wrong about Neem wood. I didn't know what all the fuss was about until now. I had one piece of it on a YCS karda, and thought it was OK, but it felt a bit rough to me and seemed somewhat plain. I guess I just got a less than average piece of it on that. But the Neem on this is outstanding. Smooth, very hard, and has wonderful grain. Looks like a lighter hill walnut with fancy figure in it, and a subtle aroma as well.
The knife weighs in at 20" and is 1 oz. shy of 2 pounds. By comparison, the "standard" Bura Movie Model I bought from Uncle Bill early last year is 21" and 29 oz. They are close, but the Sher copy seems quite a bit heavier and has much more of a chopper feel to it. The knife has a different blade shape than the regular movie model in that it does not have the same recurve look to it, does not have a regular sword of shiva but rather a shallow fuller where that would normally be, and does not have the little round keeper on the butt cap. It also does not have a defined clip point, but rather a long unsharpened area that I suppose could be sharpened along the top front half of the blade, and has a very fat standard handle with raised handle ring. Habaki bolster but very little cho creep at all. The back of the blade is flat in Malla style, and wide at about 3/8", whereas the Bura is not flat and not nearly as wide.
The knife is perfect in all respects but one, and I only mention is because as you all know I am a picky SOB and just can't help it! The handle is rotated a bit on the tang, so that the buttcap tips do not point north/south, but that is fine with me. It is fat, but it feels great in the hand, and the alignment of the buttcap is trivial; I'm sure that was how the handle was cut and had to be fitted. My only minor issue is that the carved double ring in front of the raised handle ring was one of those rare ones that curved around the handle unevenly, and is unmatched with carved overruns at the bottom. It is a damned shame with a piece of wood this gorgeous and a knife this unique. I quickly checked a dozen other wood handled knives, and the double rings on all of them are flawless, so I wonder if they have a template to do this and just tried to do this one without it?
For now I'll leave it alone and try and let it grow on me, but I'll probably cut new rings with a file, and then try and carve out some kind of pattern between the two rings to even it all up. I plan on practicing on scrap wood for quite a while before touching this though, as I would hate to screw it up. Bottom line is that thankfully you only see it when looking at the underside of the knife, as 3/4 of the ring is perfect.
I took a few pics of the old and new knives for comparison. Calling it a Movie Model is about as close as you can get, but they are significantly different. It's cool to have examples of each though. In looking more closely at the pics though, their blade edges themselves are very similar, they just seem quite different when you hold them.
Still working on my pic quality! At least I didn't take them in total darkness this time.
Once I get the light figured out, I have to work on eliminating any blurryness as in the handle picture.
Oh, almost forgot. The karda and chakma are excellent. Slightly oversized to match the blade, and perfectly done. They are shown in the last enlarged picture.
Thanks,
Norm
The knife weighs in at 20" and is 1 oz. shy of 2 pounds. By comparison, the "standard" Bura Movie Model I bought from Uncle Bill early last year is 21" and 29 oz. They are close, but the Sher copy seems quite a bit heavier and has much more of a chopper feel to it. The knife has a different blade shape than the regular movie model in that it does not have the same recurve look to it, does not have a regular sword of shiva but rather a shallow fuller where that would normally be, and does not have the little round keeper on the butt cap. It also does not have a defined clip point, but rather a long unsharpened area that I suppose could be sharpened along the top front half of the blade, and has a very fat standard handle with raised handle ring. Habaki bolster but very little cho creep at all. The back of the blade is flat in Malla style, and wide at about 3/8", whereas the Bura is not flat and not nearly as wide.
The knife is perfect in all respects but one, and I only mention is because as you all know I am a picky SOB and just can't help it! The handle is rotated a bit on the tang, so that the buttcap tips do not point north/south, but that is fine with me. It is fat, but it feels great in the hand, and the alignment of the buttcap is trivial; I'm sure that was how the handle was cut and had to be fitted. My only minor issue is that the carved double ring in front of the raised handle ring was one of those rare ones that curved around the handle unevenly, and is unmatched with carved overruns at the bottom. It is a damned shame with a piece of wood this gorgeous and a knife this unique. I quickly checked a dozen other wood handled knives, and the double rings on all of them are flawless, so I wonder if they have a template to do this and just tried to do this one without it?
For now I'll leave it alone and try and let it grow on me, but I'll probably cut new rings with a file, and then try and carve out some kind of pattern between the two rings to even it all up. I plan on practicing on scrap wood for quite a while before touching this though, as I would hate to screw it up. Bottom line is that thankfully you only see it when looking at the underside of the knife, as 3/4 of the ring is perfect.
I took a few pics of the old and new knives for comparison. Calling it a Movie Model is about as close as you can get, but they are significantly different. It's cool to have examples of each though. In looking more closely at the pics though, their blade edges themselves are very similar, they just seem quite different when you hold them.
Still working on my pic quality! At least I didn't take them in total darkness this time.
Once I get the light figured out, I have to work on eliminating any blurryness as in the handle picture. Oh, almost forgot. The karda and chakma are excellent. Slightly oversized to match the blade, and perfectly done. They are shown in the last enlarged picture.
Thanks,
Norm
